Timeline: Stephen Hawking

Jan 8 1942
Born in Oxford, England (300 years after the death of Galileo).
1953 to 1958
Attends St Albans school in North London, where he develops a passion for mathematics. His father wants him to study medicine.
1959 to 1962
Specialises in physics at University College Oxford. Graduates with a first class degree in natural sciences.
1963
Begins research in cosmology and general relativity at the University of Cambridge. He is diagnosed with an "incurable disease" at the age of 21, which is later found to be Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, a rare progressive disease that effects... read more

Related news

Professor Stephen Hawking, 68, is a theoretical physicist and cosmologist. He studied physics at Oxford, went on to do research at Cambridge and was the Lucasian professor of mathematics at Cambridge for 30 years. His books include A Brief History Of...

At the time of the Big Bang 13.8 billion years, all matter in the universe erupted from a singularity to create the cosmos that we know today.
But what happened before then? Professor Stephen Hawking says he might know.
In a new TV interview, the...

I first encountered Stephen Hawking on the cover of the New York Times magazine. Inside, its pages told a story we all know today, but at the time it was a revelation: a Cambridge astrophysicist sought to solve the great mysteries of the universe,...

Stephen Hawking, the brightest star in the firmament of science, whose insights shaped modern cosmology and inspired global audiences in the millions, has died aged 76.
His family released a statement in the early hours of Wednesday morning confirming...

The image of Stephen Hawking – who has died aged 76 – in his motorised wheelchair, with head contorted slightly to one side and hands crossed over to work the controls, caught the public imagination, as a true symbol of the triumph of mind over...

The belief that heaven or an afterlife awaits us is a "fairy story" for people afraid of death, Stephen Hawking has said.
In a dismissal that underlines his firm rejection of religious comforts, Britain's most eminent scientist said there...